Finally

The sheep were very happy to have a warmish day yesterday.  It has been cold since they've been sheared, and they'd barely been out of the barn.   

Dainty pregnant ewes: Pawlonia (with Myrtle)

Adelie

Lightning, with Opal & Celsius

Oregano

Pawlonia again

Elsie

They were excited to eat some snacks, too!

Following the food

Shearing Day

With the snow on the ground, it didn't look much like shearing day Saturday.  In the barn, though, the sheep were losing their winter coats.  We shear early in March so that our pregnant ewes are sheared before lambing.  A few of our sheep will partially shed their fleeces on their own, which results in parts of the fleece being stuck together.  Earlier shearing usually helps us to limit the number of fleeces affected.

Molly (I think!) being sheared

Vanilla and Peanut await their turns.

 We've had colder weather on shearing day, but still, I'm ready for one with a little milder weather.

Henrietta is next in line.

 It was a good day. The llama was (mostly) well-behaved, I had great helpers, and most of the fleeces look great.  There are the right number of pregnant ewes (compared to eight too many last year!). 

An older picture, but we didn't take many on Saturday!

Happy Sheep

The ewes were really happy to see us bearing peanuts today.  I've been keeping my trips to the barn as short as possible.  It's been cold, and while the sheep love it, I'm not a big fan. (Neither are the chickens.)

Happy animals in the snow (on a very cold day!).

The peanuts were in high demand and the ewes were not patient or polite about the wait.

Lucky Pawlonia is out in front.

Attacking the hands that feed them.

Myrtle being a little pushy.

Swan was a repeat customer.

Swan was one of the first ones to notice the peanuts.

Swan has a very effective begging face!

The boys were curious.

Oregano is checking out the ewes.

Yeti would like a snack, too.

Just Pictures

Elsie

Flurry (or maybe Snow?)

Henrietta out in front

Pawlonia & Swan

Pistachio & little brother Fahrenheit

Swan

Vanilla

The whole gang (minus the rams)

Back to Normal (Mostly)

The rams are no longer in with the ewes. 

Cormorant misses his ewes and lets us know about it.

Hawk misses his as well but is better behaved.

When we moved Hawk, we switched the barn around.  Now it's easier for the ewes to go to the recently-fenced back pasture (the rams and wethers never even checked it out, despite ample opportunity!).  Barack O'Llama loves the change of venue.  Not only is he a fan of the pasture, but he also enjoys sticking his head out of the barn when we open the door.

Happy llama.

"The blue sky brings out the auburn tones in my fleece," BOL

The ewes still love their peanuts--except Czadas.  She seems to have lost her taste for them, but that didn't keep her from being pushy.

Czadas & Vanilla

It's Been a Long, Long Time

It's a boring time for the sheep right now.  It's deer season, so for the sheep's safety, they are confined to an area close to the barn.  It is the height of breeding season, so maybe they're not too bored. The rams are walking the fence line, hoping to get to the other side.  So far, they haven't.

Most of my pictures are from a while ago.  We finally had our back pasture fenced, much to Barack O'Llama and the ewes' delight.  The rams and wethers, for some reason, will not go in to the new pasture, no matter the bribe.

The ewes needed to be led with grain their first time into the new pasture.   They only needed encouragement once.

 

Also, we had an early snow storm in November.  There was quite a bit of snow before Barack O'Llama went in the barn.  (But if there's one drop of rain he's running for cover as fast as he can!

In the last post, I mentioned that we were using just one ram this breeding season.  Since then, we've changed our minds, and we are using Hawk for the second time.  His lambs last year were gorgeous!

Cormorant's New Adventure

Fall is here, and that means our breeding ram is in with his ewes.  This year's lucky guy is Cormorant.  We usually use two rams, but this year we're just breeding one small group of ewes, so we're only using one ram.  So far so good.  Several of the ewes are marked, and all the rams--including Oregano--are staying where they are supposed to be.

Cormorant

Myrtle doesn't appear to be impressed.

Pistachio wonders who that ram in the barn is.

Dove is this year's only first time mom--pictured with Cashew.

Of course, Henrietta is among those standing alongside the fence.

Celsius really stands out...

Just because she's cute: Snow